William David Skelton MBE (4 September 1931 – 25 November 2016) was a top jockey in New Zealand Thoroughbred horse racing who competed from the 1940s for four decades.
He also rode in Australia, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
[1] In 1955 he married Italian-born Emanuela Valeria Macchi, and they went on to have three children,[1][2] including David, who was a jockey in both Australia and New Zealand.
Skelton won both the W. S. Cox Plate and the Victoria Derby on Daryl's Joy in Australia.
[1][3] In the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours, Skelton was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to horse racing as a jockey.